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Topic: Tips for Living Simply and Well (Read 14373 times)

Make your own cleaning supplies. Bleach, vinegar and ammonia are all very cheap and you can mix them with water in a spray bottle for easy cleaning. Home made laundry soap is also pretty easy to make using borax and washing powder.

<delurk>

While I am all for making your own cleaning supplies, please do not ever mix bleach and ammonia. Chlorine gas and its friends are no friends to you or your lungs.

If we look at history of primitive old life, people use very limited resources for living.As a matter of fact, people need very little things for living.We can eat less food then before, grow our own fruit and vegetables, buy just really necessary products.

Make your own cleaning supplies. Bleach, vinegar and ammonia are all very cheap and you can mix them with water in a spray bottle for easy cleaning. Home made laundry soap is also pretty easy to make using borax and washing powder.

<delurk>

While I am all for making your own cleaning supplies, please do not ever mix bleach and ammonia. Chlorine gas and its friends are no friends to you or your lungs.

If I could define, much like monastics, but with families (if you can imagine that). Lots of prayer, candle making, home cooking, sewing, raising livestock, good thanksgiving before meals, soap making, and "taking the time it takes to do things". No deep complexities or anything like that. No video games, TV, computers that are all complicated and involved.

As a matter of fact people need just small amount of resources (some food, shelter, etc.) for living. If we try to use every opportunity for live simply we could obtain it. Just be proactive in every moment of life and think what and how you need to spend. Three things in life we must use as best as possible and we don`t have to defalcate it in vain, these are time, words and possibilities.

Consumption mostly depends on our desires and “often using” word want. In my opinion people need very limited amount of resources for living. So if we want to reduce our outlays we have to less our desires.

1. Buy good quality socks. You'll save money in the long run and they are such a pleasure to wear.2. Use less laundry detergent. Also, wash most clothes on the cold cycle.3. Dry clothes on the line. You will save money on electricity/gas and your clothes will last longer.4. Buy the "lesser" cuts of meat and buy them with the bones. They are much cheaper and generally more nutritious. Make stock from the bones. Buy the whole chicken.5. Buy produce in season. Don't eat strawberries or asparagus in January; they are very expensive then and aren't any good anyways.6. Make canning and preserving a priority. It is fun and so rewarding.

Don't buy yourself anything that you don't need--this is perhaps the hardest one yet it helps the most. You see something you want like a TV or a watch or something? Don't buy it. You want a Starbucks coffee? Don't buy it. Train yourself to live off of only what you need. I've already been doing this to an extent for quite a while now. Instead, save all of your money, only use it for what you need and be sure to give as much of it as you can to charity--I've noticed that the more I give to charity, the more God awards me with later. One time I donated $10 to charity even though I really needed it, three days later I got $30.

The best time to get things that you don't need but want is during holidays when people buy you gifts. That is always when I get things I don't need but want.

Secondly, SAVE YOUR PLASTIC BAGGIES! If you ever pack a lunch for work or schooling and say you use the plastic "ziplock" baggies to store food in--save them! Don't throw them away. That's wasting money. You can easily save them, wash them at hope and reuse them until they tear--which is usually about after being used four times. Also, try to use the least amount of electricity you need. If you need a light, forget turning on a lamp, just light a candle. You can easily get an entire bag of candles at the dollar store.

Paper towels/napkins--whichever you use, try to use the least amount possible that you need to stay clean during your meal. I always tear my paper towels in half so that a roll lasts me double the time.

Prepaid credit cards and pay-as-you-go phones are great ways to avoid getting into debt.

The clearance corner in the supermarket is your friend.

Cook at home (and pack your own lunch for work/school). Get creative with leftovers.

Become a regular at the library. If you like owning books, join a book-swapping site like BookMooch or PaperbackSwap.

Browsing charity shops is like treasure hunting. Fun, and you can never know what you will unearth. If you become a regular, you may end up having presents for everyone long before Christmas, and for peanuts.

Get enough sleep. I can't stress that enough. Turn off the TV or computer an hour before lights-out, and wind down with a book. If the weather cooperates, leave the curtains or shutters open and allow yourself to wake up with the sun.

Volunteer. It offers a whole new perspective on life.

The short way of dealing with stuff comes in rhyme: Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.

Logged

'When you live your path all the time, you end up with both more path and more time.'~Venecia Rauls

You can use onions for burns,it really works.My grandmother did this to me when I was youg and I don't have a scar from it..it was mixed with tea leves as a cold compress.Now I use it all the time and at work.(I cook).

This cookbook really helps. Instead of following recipes, it teaches you basic techniques and that you can vary based on what's in your refrigerator or spice rack. I think this cookbook helps learning frugal living since you can easily take advantage of what's on sale or in season or what you need to use up in your refrigerator, once you know how to make a few basic things.